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Saturday,
April 13, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
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UP farmers start bringing wheat to Haryana Shortage of warders in Haryana jails HIV cases up among expectant mothers Officials’ absence enrages councillors Congress to
launch ‘jail bharo andolan’
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HIGH COURT New policy to
check illegal colonies Three killed, 10 hurt as jeep,
truck collide 2 knocked down, killed Farmers cautioned
on BT cotton Ice & ice candies sans proper test banned
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UP farmers start bringing wheat to Haryana Chandigarh, April 12 The Haryana Congress president, Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda, was quick to protest against the remarks of the FCI official. The Haryana Government, too, was equally prompt in denying that any commission would be deducted from payment to the farmers. The Secretary, Food and Supplies, Haryana, Mr H.C. Disodia, told TNS that the farmers would be paid Rs 620 per quintal of wheat, which was the minimum support price announced by the Central Government. He said confusion on this count had been created by an exercise undertaken by the FCI on how to reduce the corporation’s expenditure. Any internal exercise of the FCI had no meaning for the government. Mr Disodia said the commission would be paid by the buyer, whether official procurement agencies or private traders, as provided under the law. He said the farmers should have no misgivings on this count. It seems UP farmers have entered Faridabad district in a big way. The district, adjacent to UP, had received 55,718 tonnes of wheat till yesterday whereas the arrival of wheat in districts like Karnal and Kaithal, which constitute the wheat belt of Haryana, was about 5,000 tonnes each. The heavy arrival of wheat is being attributed to imports from UP. The Haryana Government has been sanctioned a cash credit limit of about Rs 3,600 crore, of which it has already received Rs 2,200 crore for wheat procurement. Last year the credit limit of the state was about Rs 3,700 crore. The state expects to procure about 65 lakh tonnes of wheat this year for which it will need over Rs 4,000 crore. Mr Disodia said the state would get more money from the RBI in case of need. However, according to one school of thought in the state, in view of the strict specifications for the wheat to be procured by the official agencies this year, the actual quantity to be purchased by the agencies may be about 55 lakh tonnes. The FCI has reduced the permissible limit of other grains in wheat from 3 per cent to 2 per cent this year. Similarly, the permissible limit for damaged grains has also been reduced from 3 per cent to 2 per cent. The permissible percentage of shrivelled and broken grains has been reduced from 8 per cent to 7 per cent. The maximum permissible moisture content will be 12 per cent. Mr Disodia said the agencies would strictly adhere to the specifications so that wheat could be exported. Of the 64 lakh tonnes of wheat procured last year in the state, about 40 lakh tonnes had already been sent out of Haryana to the deficit states as well as certain foreign countries. The remaining old stocks would also be cleared before the end of the current procurement season. Thus, he said, there would not be any shortage of space to store wheat. He said it had been made mandatory for the arhtiyas to install electric sieves (“jharnas”) so that foreign particles could be eliminated from wheat. Reports from the field suggest that by and large the farmers have accepted the new specifications. One reason for the relatively low arrivals of wheat in the districts of Karnal and Kaithal is said to be the farmers’ desire to wait for a couple of days more before harvesting so that the moisture content can be brought to the permissible limit.
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Shortage of warders in Haryana jails Chandigarh, April 12 While on an average 11,000 inmates can be found in the 18 prisons in the state, the sanctioned strength of warders is only 557, including 54 head warders. However, only 440 are available for duty as the remaining vacancies have not been filled since the retirement of personnel from these posts, according to the note. The warders’ duty is divided into three shifts as a result of which 146 warders can be deployed in the prisons at any given time. This system puts each Haryana warder in charge 90 prisoners at any given time. The note also mentioned that in neighbouring Punjab, there were 1,839 warders and 438 head warders for approximately the same number of prisoners. In Himachal Pradesh, where on an average 900 persons were lodged in the jails, the number of warders and head warders was 205 and 27, respectively. The note urged the Home Department to address the problem by filling the vacancies of warders immediately. It is learnt that in the absence of adequate number of warders, convicted lifers who have completed three-fourths of their terms are being deployed in Haryana prisons to function as warders at a meagre allowance of Rs 200 a month. However, prison officials feel that this arrangement is fraught with risk and having regular warders in the place of CNWs (convict night watchman) will be a more acceptable method. Two new prisons are also coming up in Haryana following a high court order on a PIL filed on the issue of congestion in Haryana prisons. The prisons being set up at Gurgaon and Karnal will have an authorised capacity of 2,500 and 2,100, respectively, to make them the largest prisons in the state. In their present desperate situation, the prison authorities will welcome even if the existing 117 posts of warder, which have reportedly been lying vacant for more than two years, are filled. However, once the prisons at Gurgaon and Karnal come up, prison officials intend to submit a comprehensive plan to the state government for the recruitment of adequate number of warders so that each warder is given to handle a maximum of 20 inmates at any given time. |
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HIV cases up among expectant mothers Chandigarh, April 12 According to reliable sources, the increase in such cases was noticed during tests conducted among pregnant women in Karnal, Hisar and Palwal. They said the HIV test was done on 1,200 pregnant women — 400 in each place — in August, September, October and November last year. The tests were carried out on women visiting antenatal clinics (ANC) attached to general hospitals. The exercise was undertaken as part of the nationwide Sentinel Survey carried out by the National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO) every year for projecting the approximate number of HIV-infected persons in the country in a given year. Like elsewhere, in Haryana, too, the test was carried out on the pregnant women without telling them about it. The sources said that out of 400 women tested in the ANC attached to Karnal, two tested HIV positive. The corresponding figure was one in Hisar and two in Palwal. If 1 per cent of the women, out of the 1,200, had tested positive, Haryana would have had an AIDS epidemic. However, as five women tested HIV positive out of the 1,200 undergoing the scrutiny, it showed that there was no reason for an AIDS epidemic scare in the state at present. Nevertheless, the number of women testing HIV positive last year was a quantum jump from the previous year’s figure when only one woman, out of 1,200, had tested positive. What is worrying the authorities is that pregnant women — considered a “high-risk group” by agencies engaged in containing AIDS — are likely to give birth to HIV positive babies. Figures available with the Haryana AIDS Control Society (HACS) show five HIV positive cases in children below 14 years (0-14 category). This indicates that cases of children acquiring HIV from their mothers already exist in the state. Sources in the HACS said that in view of this phenomenon, they were planning to launch intervention by a drug (called AZT in abbreviated form) to contain mother-to-child transmission (MTCT) of HIV in the state. They said that studies conducted in various places, including the USA and Thailand, had shown 50 per cent reduction in the MTCT rate as a result of oral administration of the drug. While NACO has already decided to launch the AZT intervention programme in Maharashtra and some other states having a large number of AIDS cases, Haryana, too, will formally request NACO to include Haryana in the programme, sources say. |
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Officials’ absence enrages councillors Ambala, April 12 Cutting across party lines, Municipal Councillors of Ambala Sadar passed a unanimous resolution this afternoon against the Executive Officer and the Secretary demanding their immediate suspension and legal action against them. The President of the MC, Ambala Sadar, pandit Shankar Dass, said despite repeated requests to the authorities, the general meeting of the council was not being called. “Now, when this meeting has been called, both the EO and the Secretary are not present. We have taken a serious note of their absence,” he said. He said this was his fourth term as a municipal councillor and such an incident had never taken place before. Ms Hira Lal Yadav, leader of the Congress in the Municipal Council, said, “It is for the first time in the history of the municipal council that Councillors kept on waiting, but officials did not turn up. “It is necessary for the officials to be present under the MC Act. Their absence is a direct attack on the foundation of Panchayati Raj,” he said. Mr Yadav said the government must take strong action against them. “If this can happen today in the municipal council, it may happen tomorrow in the Assembly. It is a sad day,” he said. Mr Kamal Kishore Jain, BJP councillor, levelled charges of irregularities against the authorities concerned. “We must go and meet the Chief Minister and apprise him of the situation,” he said. The municipal councillors later raised slogans against the Executive Officer and the Secretary over their absence from the general meeting. According to sources, the Executive Officer and the Secretary did not turn up for the meeting over the issue of alleged use of unparliamentary language by the MC Vice-President, Mr Suresh Garg. However, Mr Garg had denied the allegations and said the officials were levelling charges as they were not ready to answer questions regarding work being carried out in the Ambala Sadar area. The officials had written to the Deputy Commissioner regarding the matter and they had demanded the removal of Mr Suresh Garg as a municipal councillor. The DC had called the officials as well as Mr Suresh Garg to his office. |
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Congress to
launch ‘jail bharo andolan’
Chandigarh, April 12 Mr Hooda, who addressed the Press after a meeting of the newly chosen District Congress Committee presidents, also announced the party’s decision to launch a “jail bharo andolan” from August 16 against “the anti-people and anti-farmer policies of the NDA government at the Centre and the INLD in Haryana”. Mr Hooda said that each DCC would enrol 10 volunteers per polling booth for this purpose. Mr Hooda also stated that each DCC would organise a one-day fast by rotation to demand the removal of Mr Narendra Modi as Gujarat Chief Minister. The fast would be undertaken from April 16 to May 20. On May 21, fast would be organised at the PCC office in Chandigarh.
A Congress delegation led by Mr Hooda also met the Governor, Babu Parmanand, and submitted a memorandum, addressed to the President of India, demanding the removal of the Narendra Modi government. |
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HIGH COURT Chandigarh, April 12 The officer was apprehending arrest in a first information report registered on February 22 by the CBI under Sections 420, 467, 468, 471 and 120-B, IPC. As per the allegations, some persons having their names mentioned in an FIR got arms licences renewed from the petitioner's office while he was SDM. |
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New policy to
check illegal colonies Chandigarh, April 12 According to an official release issued here today, under this policy licences would be granted to private colonisers and cooperative societies for the construction of planned colonies within the municipal limits of towns. The release said that 33 urban areas had already been notified for this purpose and added that the government was considering notifying the remaining 35 urban areas as well. The release said that with a view to keeping the rates of plots in the municipal towns at an affordable level for access by the middle and lower-income groups, the licence fee, conversion charges, service charges, etc, had been reduced as compared to the rates prescribed by the Town and Country Planning Department. |
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Three killed, 10 hurt as jeep, truck collide Hisar, April 12 Two of the deceased have been identified as Ram Kumar (35) of Budha Khera village and Banwari Lal (26) of Kalod village. The third person has not yet been identified. According to the police, the ill-fated jeep, in which they were travelling collided head-on with a truck on the Hisar-Siwani road. Two persons died on the spot while the third succumbed to his injuries on the way to the hospital. The drivers of both vehicles were also injured. The injured were brought here by the residents of Bherian village later in the evening. The police has registered a case against both the drivers in this connection. |
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2 knocked down, killed Ambala, April 12 According to a police report, some persons of Hoshiarpur were on the way to Hardwar in their Tata Sumo vehicle. One of the tyres of their vehicle got punctured near Ambala city. When the driver of the vehicle was replacing the tyre, some of the passengers got down from the vehicle and stood beside the driver. In the meantime another vehicle coming from Chandigarh side hit them. One of the passenger, Rajinder, died on the spot, while Ramesh succumbed to his injuries in the PGI. According to a relative of the deceased, they were going to Hardwar to organise a “bhandara” on
Baisakhi. They were also carrying food items for the bhandara with them. |
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Farmers cautioned
on BT cotton Chandigarh, April 12 In a press release issued here today, Mr Arora warned the farmers that they would incur heavy losses by adopting BT cotton and appealed to them not to get misled by the propaganda of some private seed dealers. |
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Ice & ice candies sans proper test banned Fatehabad, April 12 Mr Indora has also prohibited the sale of edible products like unripe and overripe fruits and vegetables and some beverages like sugarcane juice, lassi and sweetened water. The ban orders, he said, would come into force with immediate effect and would remain effective till December 31, 2002. |
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